


Things can always get better

by ioWall



Series: Subnautica: fish au [2]
Category: Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Happy Ending, How Do I Tag, Multi, Mutation, This Is STUPID
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:22:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25825843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ioWall/pseuds/ioWall
Summary: Epilogue to Back TogetherRyley wanted to get rid of these changes, but they lacked the knowledge to reverse the effects of the continuing mutations.But all it took to find the solution was a visit from Alterra, especially someone who was very close to Ryley.
Relationships: Avery Quinn/Ryley Robinson/Bart Torgal, Berkeley/Yu (Subnautica), Danby/Ozzy (Subnautica), Keen/Jochi Khasar
Series: Subnautica: fish au [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1873885
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Things can always get better

Five months later later 

Even though Ryley wasn’t in the hands of the Precursors, his body still changed a little bit. He now growled at the aggressive animals when they approached him or his friends. His pupils were much more narrow than ever before and his scleras had a slight light blue tint. More marks and other bioluminescent patterns covered his body and his tail changed entirely, the black skin of the tail was now also covered in blue marks, the fins now reached from the and of the tail all the way to his back and the tail was longer, small fins were now growing out of his back and arms. His teeth were much stronger and sharper, so finding him lying in his bed it the middle of the day chewing on something harder while reading his PDA was completely normal these days. 

These changes were happening way too quickly for Ryley to cope with, resulting in him having shorter temper, being moody and distant. The others interacted with him like if he was the same Ryley who survived the crash of the Aurora and being infected with the Kharaa bacterium. But it wasn’t an easy task, but after months of trying Ryley was almost the same Ryley that they got to know after being forced to depend on each other to survive on an alien planet with deadly virus in the water. 

Their base in the sparse arctic was absolutely massive by this point, housing thirteen people, countless rooms for supplies and materials. Moonpools with Seamoths, PRAWN suits and Seatrucks and four Cyclops submarines parked all around the giant structure. 

It was early in the morning. Avery, Bart and Marguerit engaged in a quiet conversation in the kitchen, drinking their coffee. Sam and Robin making breakfast for themselves and Paul and Jochi discussing something. Roman and Ozzy greeted everyone as they walked into the room, Danby dragging behind them and Emily with Milo following few minutes after them. 

“Hey guys.” Ozzy said as he sat next to Avery. “How’s Ryley doing?” 

Bart and Avery looked at each other and sighed with amused expressions. 

“Actually, pretty good. He didn’t go to bed at four in the morning finally. I think that he’ll have a solid eight to ten hours of sleep instead of three.” Bart took another sip of his coffee. 

“He’s not going to be all whiny when you’ll poke him in the ribs again to wake him up to help us round the base.” Avery ran a hand through his hair. 

“Normal Ryley? Who’s that? Haven’t seen him in what.. a decade?” Danby asked as he joined them at the table. 

Ozzy nodded. “Something like that.” 

Three hours later 

They all worked around the base – even Ryley who was almost forced out of the bed. Fixing what needed to be fixed. Adding more reinforcement when needed. And occasionally playing with the animals they tamed. 

Milo just went back into the base to grab something when he contacted the others. 

“Guys, we have a slight problem.” Milo spoke through their communication devices. 

“What? Another leak?” Emily asked. 

“No. Alterra found our location.” Milo said. 

“Wait, what?! That’s impossible. They think we’re dead.” Danby answered. 

“Apparently not. They found our current location and will be here in few days! Bastards didn’t even give us time to prepare.” Milo cursed up a storm, while the others joined before it continued when they also entered the base. 

After few minutes of arguing they fell silent to let the news sink in. 

“So, what we’re gonna do now? Just don’t answer, let them think that were actually dead, or wait for them and welcome them to their new source of money?” Jochi asked finally. 

“Absolutely not.” Roman said firmly. His voice gained the professional tone he had to use almost all the time on the Aurora. “As we already talked about this. 4546B is a property of the Torgal Corporation as they were the first ones to ever step on this planet. If Alterra will try to go around it, we’ll have to do everything to prevent them from taking over this planet.” 

“Because they would strip this planet to it’s core to get all the resources that you can find here.” Emily finished. 

“Yeah, we’ve already talked about this numerous times, but what will happen with us? Like, we’re still from Alterra. They will put a crippling debt on each of us.” Danby around. 

Paul looked over at Bart, who seemed to be lost in his thoughts, before he sighed and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Bart, I know you always wanted to become someone else. But I think that you should take over my position.” Everyone looked at Paul, almost holding their breaths. “And especially now, when this planet and your friends all depend on you.” 

Bart nodded, taking a deep breath. “Then I will not let the Alterra manipulate with kind of fauna, flora or any other living being and material on this planet.” Bart looked at Danby. “And don’t worry about any kind of debt they might try to put on any of you, since they can’t do anything like that to members of other corporation.” He smiled as everyone jumped in surprise. 

“Wait, is that even possible to just take over employees from another corporation?” Emily asked and looked at Paul who just chuckled. 

“He’s the CEO now. And I don’t remember any law against taking over supposedly dead employees.” Paul patted Bart's shoulder in pride. 

They cheered together, all the works on the base soon forgotten. 

The next day – the Delta Island 

Bart, Ryley and Avery took the extra time to visit the island to watch the sunrise since the weather was clear. 

“I know I have said this a million times by now, but I’m proud of you.” Ryley smiled as he nudged into Bart next to him. 

“I know and thank you again.” Bart smiled back at him. 

“And what do you know. Maybe you’ll be able to lead the corporation from here. None of us wants to leave this place.” Avery said as he was standing on Ryley’s other side. 

“That’s true, but first we need to get Alterra out of our ass.” Bart sighed. “I feel like kicking their ass when they don’t even give us time to prepare for them.” 

Avery and Ryley nodded and the trio continued watching the sunrise while talking about other things. 

Later they sat down next to some Termal Lilys when Avery's PDA received a message from Roman. 

“Roman’s asking if you know someone by the name ‘James Robinson’.” Avery asked. 

“Yeah, it’s my father’s name. Why?” Ryley frowned. 

“Apparently, he’s on the Alterra ship that’s coming here.” Avery added. 

Ryley whined. “Oh God..” Ryley’s father was the last person in the whole universe he wanted to see in the near and far future. And everyone knew how he felt about him coming here. For years Ozzy was the only one who knew about this, but he told the others too eventually, Bart and Avery were the first. 

“You, Ozzy and Milo will stay in the base. You will not come face to face with them, only if it’ll be absolutely unavoidable. The way you look right now would make it worse for you. “ Bart said firmly, Ryley just nodded to him. 

“I think we should go. Who knows how soon they’ll actually get here.” Avery suggested. 

And they were glad they did come back. It was still pretty early but everyone was already awake. 

“Mother fuckers…” Emily’s swearing was the first think they met with when they entered the base. 

“What was that for?” Avery asked her. 

“Oh, nothing major… only that they are all proud and shit for wanting a warm welcome this afternoon.” Emily crossed her arms over her chest as she sat down to the closest chair at the table. 

Bart pinched the bridge of his nose. “For God’s sake..” 

“So, what we’re gonna do?” Ozzy asked from where he sat. 

“You, Milo and Ryley will stay here and we’ll go to wherever they will land.” Bart said when he saw the landing coordinates on the screen on the wall. “We’ll just have to adapt to whatever they will throw in our way.” 

In the afternoon 

To save themselves from boredom, Milo, Ozzy and Ryley continued working on the base which they abandoned the day before. It took some time as there were only three people instead of all thirteen. 

“How many knives have we made since we got here?” Milo groaned when they sat in the kitchen after they finished with the repairs and changed into some normal, more comfortable, clothes. 

“I think I lost count at my third one. Why?” Ozzy brought a bottle of water for each of them. 

“Sea Monkeys again?” Ryley asked. 

“Yeah.” Milo sighed. “I don’t even try to get it back from them so I just make a new one… Ugh, when did I became so lazy.” 

“Same.” Ryley and Ozzy agreed with Milo. 

The radio started beeping with incoming message, making Milo groan as he got up and answered the call. “Reception, how can we help you?” Milo said with ironic voice, Ozzy and Ryley laughing in the back. 

“Quit it, Berkeley.” Came Jochis voice. “Just checking up on you.” 

“Um, yeah. We just finished few things around the base and now we’re just hanging out in the kitchen. How are out dear visitors doing?” Milo asked. 

“That’s the problem. They are trying to convince us to call you to come here.” Jochi sighed. “It’s getting more and more annoying.” 

“I’m not moving a finger.” Ryley shouted from the other side of the room from the radio. 

Jochi snorted. “Then try to tell it to your idiot father or whoever this ‘James’ is.” 

“Oh come on. We just changed from the diving gear to normal clothes JUST to change back into them? No thanks.” Ozzy groaned. 

“Hej, Jochi.” Emily boarded the Cyclops. “Better get off the radio, they’re coming it.” 

“What? Why?” Jochi asked. 

“They want to go to the base.” Emily said. 

“Fine. Talk to you later guys. We’ll try to convince them.” Jochi said before turning off the radio. 

“Well.” Milo clapped his hands. “What now?” 

“I don’t know, but we’ll die of boredom before they get here.” Ozzy said. “And you should be distracted.” He pointed at Ryley who nodded. He really didn’t want to think about his father. 

Later 

“Why in the world do you need such a big base.” Ryley’s father, James, asked when the Cyclops approached the base. He was standing next to a young man who was supposedly one of the pilots of the ship and introduced himself as Adam Robinson (“So Ryley’s older brother, no need for fancy talk around it.” Everyone thought.) 

Everyone sighed in annoyance. 

“Well, there’s thirteen people living there.” Robin answered. 

“That wasn’t a question.” James said back harshly, resulting in Sam crossing her arms over her chest, holding back from defending her sister. 

“Okay, we’re here.” Avery, who was piloting the submarine turned around and walked to the ladder. “Sorry, gentlemen, but you will have to go to the water one more time.” Avery’s (and also other’s) tone of voice became cold and annoyed after receiving the same treatment by the Alterra people when they were nice to them. 

James groaned but both he and Adam followed the others and short while later looked around the room they were now in. It was filled with lockers with tags with different materials written on them. 

Emily motioned to others that she’s going to find Milo, Ozzy and Ryley but was stopped when she bumped into Milo in the doors. 

“Jezus Chris, sorry Emily.” Milo jumped back as he didn’t expect anyone in the doorway. 

Emily chuckled. “It’s fine. Where you’re going?” 

“Just to get some water. We’re sorting the lockers again, it was becoming a mess.” Milo said before leaning back into the hallway to shout his next words. “And Ryley wanted to run away again!” 

“Oi! Fuck off, Milo!” Ryley called back as Ozzy was heard laughing loudly. 

“Ahem. Didn’t your parents teach you some manners?” James addressed his presence. 

Milo looked at him while others rolled their eyes. Avery pinched the bridge of his nose and walked towards the room where Ryley and Ozzy were still sorting the lockers. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you.” Milo apologized. 

“Of course..” James crossed his arms and looked around the room again. 

Milo had the opportunity to look at others for answers about what he did wrong but was met only with rolling eyes. “Okay…” He grabbed three bottles from the filtration device and walked towards the doors again. “I’ll see you later, I guess.” 

“So what do you want here Mr. Robinson?” Paul asked. 

“For some reason I feel like you’re preventing me from seeing my son, Ryley. He should be here with you if I’m not mistaken.” James looked at Paul and Bart. 

“Well, that is correct. He is here.” Bart answered. 

“Then why can’t I see him?” James said with impatience. 

“Because it’s not a good idea..” Danby whispered for himself and Emily covered her mouth to hide her smile when she saw the expressions on the faces of both James and Adam. 

“Excuse me?” Adam asked. 

“Nothing.” Danby said as Adam shot him a suspicious look. 

“Fine. As I can see, all of you are very kind to show me where my son is so I will find him myself.” James walked out of the room with Adam. 

“As you wish.” Bart said coldly before following them to the large room filled with lockers and where Ryley, Ozzy and Milo were currently sorting the lockers. 

A smug grin covered everyone’s faces when they squeezed around shocked James and Adam into the room. And they were rightfully shocked. Seeing their own family member being completely different, not just the scars but mostly the other things making him anything else but human. The rooms went dead silent when Ryley looked around to find his shocked father and older brother, but he didn’t return the surprised look but a glare that send shivers down their spines. 

“Here you have him. Are you happy, Mr Robinson?” Paul said and walked over to Ryley before looking back at James. “Do you need anything else?” 

“Yes.” James frowned. “An explanation.” 

Ryley’s expression shifted to more bored looking, not in the mood to explain anything right now. “And what is there to explain?” Adam flinched at hearing his brother’s voice again in what felt like forever. 

“This! What else?” James shouted as he motioned at Ryley’s appearance. 

“Combination of human and some creature’s DNA.” Ryley answered as it’s not as big of a deal anymore. 

James appeared to be thinking for a minute before he grinned. “The Alterra researchers will be pleased to study your current state.” 

“Excuse me?” Avery asked from where he was leaning of the wall. 

“What? You don’t understand? It’s simple, they will study how combining human DNA with ones from other creatures.” James explained as others stared at him in disbelief, even Adam was speechless. 

Ryley’s was furious when realization hit him. 

“You can’t be serious! You have no clue what he’s been through already!” Ozzy shouted into the man’s face. 

James’s expression became cold again, so did his voice. “Laboratory is where he belongs now. You have no power over my son’s future. You’re just a stranger..” He glared at the others. “all of you.” 

That’s when the argument started. Talking over each other soon turned to shouting. They were so loud that no one noticed Ryley walking out of the room only to return a short while later in his altered diving suit – more flexible, with the sleeves removed and the neckline lowered not to cover his gills on his neck. 

Ryley walked around them like if he wasn’t even there. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” James asked firmly and grasped Ryley by his arm. 

Ryley looked over his shoulder, his brown eyes now had blue glowing specks which showed very rarely. “To the lab where I belong as you said.” He easily freed his arm from his father’s grasp before he turned back around after making sure that everyone saw him placing his PDA on the table before quickly walking to the exit knowing that there’s no way they could track him down without his PDA. 

“Perfect, I’m sure these idiots you call friends will be good without you-" James almost finished the sentence when Ryley’s fist met with his face with such force, making him stumble back. 

Ryley grabbed the fabric of his suit to bring him closer to his face. “Never talk to them like this ever again.” He growled before pushing him away before quickly disappearing into the water. 

The only sound in the room was Marguerit clapping her hands slowly, unimpressed. “Well done. Who’s supposed to find him now, hm?” She said darkly. 

James only glared at them, rubbing his red cheek. 

Some time later – hidden Precursor research base 

What was he doing here. He said he would never return to this place. The place where he suffered for months. Sometimes he still felt the pain like if it was still happening to him. Being locked in an containment with tubes sticking out of his arms, pumping his body with substances which he didn’t even want to know where they came from. And then they just left him there to rot. If Paul, Marguerit and Sam haven’t found him, he would be dead in the matter of few more days and his suffering would be over. He would die of the lack of nutrients in his body, dehydration and how weak his body was. All he could do was just lay on the floor, putting all his energy into breathing, no surprise he was just skin and bones for weeks after he was saved. 

Ryley couldn’t do anything but to stare at the giant lab, all kinds of containments, machines and tools everywhere. He gulped dryly before making his shaking feet move forward. Too many things happened too quickly, what his father said, and him just running away without any way for the others to contact him, to find and save him again. 

He reached the broken glass of the containment he was in. The tubes were still lying where he had left them after he ripped them out of his arms. 

What have he done? 

He ran away. It felt like the Precursors took him away again. That they will cause him pain again. 

“Why are you so stupid..” He whispered at his reflection in the glass. 

“Why are you calling yourself like that?” Al-an said from one of the machines on the other side of the room. 

Ryley jumped and almost fell back. “Jesus Christ Alan! Don’t do that!” He placed his hand on his chest. 

“I apologize. I should have made my presence know in a different way.” Al-an looked at him before he continued doing something with the machines. “May I ask you what brings you here?” 

“Oh, it’s not important. Just wanted to look here, I guess?” Ryley sighed. 

“Really? I thought that you said you would never come here again.” Al-an pointed out. 

“Yeah, you’re right.” Ryley leaned on the glass of the containment. “The Alterra came here with my father who told me that I belong into a lab When I look like this.” He motioned at his unusual features. “So I agreed with him and came here, I haven’t even realized where I was going until I reached this place.” Ryley explained. 

Al-an turned to him once again. “I guess correctly when I say that you don’t like your features?” Ryley nodded. 

“I would do anything to look normal again.” Ryley hid his face in his hands. “But there’s probably no way return into my normal appearance.” 

“Actually, there’s something I would like to talk about with you.” Al-an drew Ryley’s attention. “On your friend’s request, I have been working on a solution. It should turn you back into your original appearance but somethings would stay or change.” 

“Wait, really?” Ryley shot up. 

Al-an looked over his body. “Your vision would be still shaper and most of the marking on your body would leave a soft scar tissue, but your ability to breathe under water would be limited, your tail, gills and fins would disappear. “ Al-an took a moment. “If we start with the procedure now, you should be mostly back to normal in two months.” 

Ryley looked away and took a deep breath before nodding. “Yes. As I said, I would do anything to return back to normal.” 

Al-an nodded and helped Ryley prepare for this process of returning his body back to his original appearance. Well, mostly. He would still be able to breathe under water to certain degree, his sight would still be sharp and his teeth still hard and sharp. 

Whatever it takes. Ryley kept telling himself as he drifted into a state of coma on which they settled for Ryley’s own comfort and to spare him of unnecessary and agonizing pain. 

Two months later 

“What are you doing?” Ryley asked, now back to his mostly normal self, as he watched Al-An work at the machines. He wasn’t awake for too long, maybe few hours now. 

“Experiment. A long time ago my race wished your planet and collected some samples of fauna on your planet.” Al-An explained as one of his robotic arms typed into the screen next to him before a image of a big dark grey wolf showed up. 

“Oh, yeah. That’s a wolf.” Al-An looked at Ryley, encouraging him to continue in his explanation. “Humans were able to tame them and over the years we managed to breed different breeds of now called dogs.” 

Al-An nodded and turned back to the machine. “This one should be finished, now.” He pressed a button and the containment next to it opened, the water inside spilling out, leaving a small puppy like animal slowly sitting up in the containment looking around. “I waited for your awakening to not surprise you with an animal like this running around.” He finished just as the pup jumped down and shook the water off. 

“I wouldn’t mind.” Ryley crouched, smiling when the puppy excitedly jumped on him, wanting to play like an ordinary puppy. 

Ryley spent the next few hours observing the grey animal. He found out it was a girl. She had still short and soft fur with glowing turquoise pattern on her back. A line of tiny fin along her back ended at the very end of her black bald with several marks. The same fins were on the back side of her legs. All of it was in the same turquoise color and gave off a light bioluminescence. She was looking back at him with her green eyes. 

“You’ll be the best swimmer now.” Ryley laughed when she jumped on him again. 

Four months later 

“Good morning, have you slept well again?” Ozzy asked as Ryley entered the kitchen with a yawn. He was sitting at the table having his coffee while playing with the grey puppy they named Ripley which was now the size of a husky and still not looking like it’s grown to her full size yet. 

“Never better.” Ryley joked. “I’ll have to ask Bart and Avery if I slept on my back the whole night again.” Ryley poured some coffee into a mug before sitting down next to Ozzy, scratching Ripley on her head as she went to welcome Ryley. 

“Wouldn’t be a surprise if you did, huh?” Ozzy asked as he observed Ryley’s face again. Still not over the fact that Ryley was back to his normal appearance. When Ryley ran away after his encounter with his father, they knew that he would like some time alone so they didn’t search for him everyday and night. They came to the lab when Al-an contacted them himself two months later with explanation about Ryley’s current state and everything went back to normal after that. 

“Not at all. It never felt to comfortable to sleep on my back until I couldn’t even lay on my back properly for months.” Ryley smiled at the memory from which they were making fun nowadays. “Where is everyone?” He asked when he noticed that they were the only ones in the room. 

Ozzy rolled his eyes. “Roman and Jochi joined the trend of yours of waking up super early to watch the sunrise. Sam, Robin and Marg are probably in the Glacial Basin and others still asleep.” 

“Free day, who wouldn’t sleep the entire time?” Ryley said before taking sip of his coffee. 

“Good point.” Ozzy had to admit. 

After breakfast they continued playing with Ripley who never seemed to look tired. 

Another hour passed in which Danby, Emily and Milo dragged themselves out of bed and being awaken even more by being attacked by Ripley who was barking happily at the newcomers. 

Ryley sighed as he got up. “Well, I guess it’s time to wake those two up.” He said as he saw Paul looking for Bart. 

“Wait, they’re still asleep?” Paul asked. 

“Yep and I swear we went to bed early.” Ryley laughed and walked out of the room, making his way to their bedroom. 

He opened the door and walked to the bed where Bart and Avery were now stretched across the entire bed. Thankfully Ryley was already awake so they didn’t have to squish him in between their bigger frames. 

“Hey.” Ryley said as he seated himself between them and poked them into their ribs, receiving sleepy groans. “Wake up, do you know what time is it?” He poked them again. 

“Stop it.” Avery murmured. 

“Oh, and who’s grumpy now, huh?” Ryley teased, before he turned to Bart on his other side. “Bart, wake up. Your dad’s looking for you.” 

Bart grunted. “Five minutes..” He said and he wrapped his arm around Ryley to pull him closer as he and Avery always did when Ryley was waking them up as it worked every time and they could lay in bed longer. 

“Hey, no such thing as ‘five minutes’, get up. Both of you.” He tried to break free but Avery joined with amused smile. “You’re terrible. Let me go.” 

“Yeah, we love you too, Ryley.” Bart nuzzled into his side, hearing Avery laugh. 

“Since when did you became such babies.” Ryley whined. 

“Probably since we figured out what works on you.” It was Avery’s time to tease. 

“Okay, you know-" Ryley tried to get up again only to get tugged to lay back down between the two. “Oh, my god.” 

“And your plan to wake us up failed, again.” Avery said as both of them wrapped themselves around Ryley and burrowed their faces in his heck. 

Ryley just sighed in defeat. Being cuddled was less tiring than dragging them out of bed. “Don’t you dare fall back asleep.” 

“Why?” Bart lifted himself up a bit to lean his head on his hand and looked down at Ryley. 

“Because you wouldn’t do anything for the rest of the day.” Paul stood in the doorway. 

“Good morning.” Bart smiled as Ryley covered his blushing face with his hands and whispered ‘oh my god' for himself. It was cute seeing Ryley embarrassed, found squished in between Avery and Bart in their bed. 

“Morning?” Paul scoffed. “More like noon.” 

Avery and Bart both turned to take a better look at the clock on the wall. “Already?” Avery asked. 

Paul nodded. “Now get up already, Bart.” He said before closing the door behind him. 

“It was on you so I can stay here.” Avery smiled mischievously at Bart who was slowly getting up. 

Bart rolled his eyes. “Whatever, but I’ll get some cuddles later.” He bent down to kiss Ryley’s till blushing cheek. 

“Yeah, yeah, you overgrown toddler.” Ryley rolled his eyes. 

Few minutes later Bart changed and exited the room with “I’ll see you later.” and waking off to find his father. 

Avery wrapped Ryley into the blanket just to get Ryley’s reaction, which was always to just blush and not saying anything. 

“Avery, I’m not sick. You don’t have to make a burrito out of me.” Ryley laughed. 

“No, but you’re cute like this.” He smiled and kissed him on the forehead. 

Ryley sighed with a smile. “Of course, why do I even ask.” He unwrapped himself, stopping when he noticed Avery looking at his arms, which were now covered with small and soft scars from the marks that he had all over his body just few months ago. They weren’t visible like his other, worse, ones and thankfully didn’t restrict the flexibility of his skin in any way, they were only visible when someone looked more closely at his face, arms or any other part of his body where the marking was. 

“I’m so glad that you’re back to your normal self.” Avery said gently. 

“Was it that much different when I had all those features?” Ryley asked, letting Avery take his hand and gently run his fingers across the scarred patterns. 

Avery sighed. “It was obvious that you hated what they did to you. You were pretty distant and uncomfortable with how you had to do some things differently.” 

“I know.” Ryley sighed and stood up again. “But when you still talked to me like nothing happened, it actually made me feel better.” He smiled back. 

Avery nodded with a smile and let Ryley go back to the kitchen, he soon followed after he changed into different clothes. 

He wasn’t even surprised when he walked into the kitchen only to find Ozzy, Emily and Milo teasing Ryley about his ‘waking your two boyfriends up techniques, Danby shaking his head with amused smile and Paul and Bart laughing at them while trying to actually work on something. 

“Oh, I see I missed a lot. Didn’t I?” Avery laughed as he poured some coffee into a mug and joined them at the table. Laughing even more when he noticed Ripley running around the room why howling happily before bringing her ball again to everyone. 

Emily scoffed. “Nah, just giving Ryley here some tips about waking you guys up.” 

“Emily, shut up.” Ryley groaned. 

“What? Try them and thank us later. We’re helping you.” Milo laughed. 

“Have you ever tried to wake them up? No, so I can ensure you that those won’t work at all.” Ryley said. 

“Should I ask what won’t work or rather not.” Jochi asked as he and Roman walked into the room from the hallway leading to the moonpools. 

Emily turned around. “I’ll probably tell you later when Ryley’s not here.” She smiled evilly. 

Ryley just crossed his arms and glared at her. 

“And no comment on that?” Milo asked as he observed Ryley’s expression. 

“Nobody plans murder out loud.” Ryley said quietly. 

“Holy shit-" Milo managed to choke out before the room erupted in laughter. 

One month later 

“They’re annoying me more and more each day.” Roman grunted as they stood in the thick layer of snow in one of the bigger open spaces, waiting for the Alterra to come ‘visit’ them again. 

“I have to say that they have some slow ass ship if it takes them this long to break the atmosphere.” Avery said as he scanned the clear sky for any sings of any vessel. 

“Yeah, nothing new.” Roman stretched his stiff neck from looking up for too long before looking at Emily’s amused expression. “What is it this time?” 

Emily scoffed. “Oh, nothing. Just excited to see how Mr. Asshole Robinson will react to his failed attempt to get his own child locked in a lab.” 

“You have a good point.” Marguerit joined them. “Now I’m also excited so see him.” 

“Are you okay?” Ryley bent over to look at Marguerit from where he was standing between Avery and Bart. “You have to be mental if you’re excited to see him.” Ripley sat at his feet, she was becoming more and more protective of her owner each day. 

“Sometimes she’s not that far from it.” Paul said as he continued watching the others – Ozzy, Danby, Milo, Robin and Sam – as they tried to befriend one of the Pengwings on the ice shore. He couldn’t blame them, there was nothing better to do than to either stand in one place or to busy themselves with the only animals on the shore. 

“Shut it, chief.” Marguerit rolled her eyes and turned to the others on the shore. “Hey, guys! They’re here!” She called them over when a ship, much bigger than the Degasi ship or the Sunbeam, appeared in the sky, slowly descending towards the open space. 

Bart sighed when she ship landed couple meters away from them. “Here we go again.” He said and the others scoffed. 

Two familiar faces, along with few new, walked out of the ship. James and Adam had understandably surprised expressions when Ryley was completely different from when they saw him weeks ago. 

“You must be Paul and Bart Torgal, correct?” A man in front of the group stopped in from of Paul and Bart who nodded. The man held out his hand and they both shacked it. “I must say it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Lucas Crane the captain of the ship.” 

“Nice to meet you too.” Bart answered with a nod. They communicated with the Alterra with the same kindness as with the first vessel. 

The captain looked at everyone. “So, you’re the only survivors?” He asked. 

“Yes, the Degasi, Aurora and Sunbeam, plus two other small vessels.” Paul motioned to Avery and then to Sam and Robin. 

The captain nodded before settling his eyes on Ryley. “You must be Ryley Robinson, but you look different from the description I received.” The captain looked over his shoulder at James and Adam, James just barely hiding his glare at Ryley who he expected to look the same as last time. 

“A lot can happen in seven months.” Ryley said to which the captain nodded. The other people taking a step back when Ripley looked them over with her ears turned back and occasional growl escaping her. 

“I bet there’s a lot to explain, so why don’t we go into the ship where’s probably better temperature that out here.” The captain suggested before he smiled. “And there are few more people who would like to meet you.” He motioned for everyone to get into the ship where everyone’s parents and siblings fell into their arms. There was so much to explain. 

Few hours later they had the crash of the Degasi, Aurora and Sunbeam behind them and the reasons why the Ayou sisters were there. Not it was time to explain the recent events involving Ryley. 

Since the start of that explanation it was obvious that the Alterra researchers were more interested on his physical changes rather that the more damaged mental changes. 

“And do you have any visual evidence of this happening other than your description and the description we received from Mr Robinson?” One of the researchers, who had a lot of questions that made Ryley and the others uncomfortable at times, asked. Ripley was curled at Ryley’s feet, now keeping her head up, listening to what was happening as she could feel Ryley’s discomfort.. 

“We only have a scan from our scanners.” Danby typed into his PDA until he found the first and the last scan before Ryley got ‘healed'. “For Ryley Robinson’s sake and comfort, we didn’t take any other visual evidence.” He passed the PDA across the table to the researchers. 

The researcher looked at the scans, looking at Ryley - who was the only one sitting alone, not being surrounded by his family as they rather sat with James – from time to time. “And are there any abilities or other remains after returning back to his original appearance?” They demanded jet another answer to another question. Ryley sighed to calm himself from giving them peace of his mind about all these questions, focusing on the quiet growl he heard. 

“We rather choose not to answer this question as we’re still figuring this ourselves.” Roman frowned, as the others did too, and felt his mother squeezing his hand, trying to calm him down. 

“But these are very important information for out research-" The scientist was cut off. 

“Research of what?” Bart crossed his arms. 

“DNA mutation. That’s why we need to take Mr Robinson back to out labs to research the effects on human body.” The researcher argued. “This could possibly save millions of lives and change human future for the better.” 

“I don’t know if you got the message but any kind of sample of the flora, fauna or any biome will not be conducted by nobody else other than the research tem I will assign that to myself. That includes any kind of research on Ryley Robinson and his recent changes.” Bart said firmly. 

“But you have to realize how important this could be for human race.” James argued. 

“Human race or Alterra's budget?” Bart asked coldly. “The only place where any kind of research will be done are labs of the Torgal Corporation. And you don’t need to waste your time convincing me of the function of the Corporation since I’m in contact with the people currently leading our corporation.” 

“Ryley Robinson was a crew member on the Aurora, which is Alterra ship and he’s a son of a member of the Corporation.” The scientists argued back. “The planet might be a property of the Torgal Corporation but that doesn’t change his original employment.” 

“Robinson and the others stopped being a crew of the Aurora when the ship crashed. Everyone was declared dead.” Paul said. 

Ryley listened to the conflict between the scientists and the others as he kept his eyes closed, trying to calm his breathing and speeding heart beat until he couldn’t anymore. With a sound of notice from his and the other’s PDAs notifying them of a breach in the base, he stood up and stalked out of the ship while quickly muttering ‘I’ll fix the base. Don’t worry about me.” and dissapearing in the Seamoth and going back to fix the base. Ripley stood up buy didn’t follow him, she just watched the way her owner ran away. 

“Why aren’t you going after him?! Aren’t you scared that he’ll run away and hide somewhere like last time?” James stood up while banging his hands into the table, making Ripley bark at the sound. 

“Ripley.” Avery waited until she walked over to him before turning back go James, giving him a cold glare. “This is something that he can take care of himself… and our conflict doesn’t help the bad shape of his mental state anyway.” 

“Breaches in the base aren’t uncommon.” Emily rolled her eyes ans said for herself. 

“What do you mean?” Mrs Robinson asked. 

“About his mental state? I think that it’s too personal for him.” Avery folded his hands on the table. 

“I’m his mother, I have the right to know what’s happening with my son.” She argued. 

“Yeah, mother that has never been there for her own child.” Ozzy growled and looked away, leaving everyone other than Roman, Jochi, Danby, Emily, Berkeley, Bart and Avery in shock. 

“Excuse me?” Ryley’s mother glared at Ozzy. “You have no right to prevent me from seeing my son.” 

“I bet you don’t even know that you almost lost a child!” Ozzy stood up, ignoring the protest of his parents. 

“What?” Everyone asked. 

Ozzy sat down after he punched the table. “I’m not telling you anything other than you should have paid more attention.” He crossed his arms and refused to say a single word about Ryley for the rest of the day. 

Later – the Sparce Arctic base 

Ryley just finished repairing the base and adding almost more than needed reinforcement to the walls. Few Sea Monkeys were swimming around him while he worked, watching him with curiosity until he finally disappeared in the hatch. 

Ryley let out a laud angry scream which he was holding inside for the past three hours or so. He stumbled back and hissed in pain as he hit the newly reinforced wall next to him. 

This was all their fault that he was in this mental state, that they never supported him in his studies which landed him in the position of just some dumb janitor of a ship that got shot down. He could be somewhere completely different – either back on Earth, safe and sound in some lab or office or buried six feet underground if he didn’t meet Ozzy who was the reason he actually finished his education and applied as a janitor on the Aurora. Thinking about his past of depression and thinking that he was the flawed one, the one that made his family turn their back to him. His siblings were always better at everything – studying, chores, hobbies, everything. 

Not letting himself think about his family any longer, Ryley changed from his diving gear and started scrubbing the entire base to busy himself and cleaning was something he had as a job so was good at it and actually enjoyed it. He soon got lost in the concentration on making the place clean as ever. 

He stopped when he received a message on his PDA from Ozzy. 

Hey, are you okay? Just making sure since you left in such a hurry. 

I’m ok, no need to worry about me. Ryley typed back. 

I’m gonna pretend like I believe you. Ryley chuckled at the message from his best friend. Do you want us to send someone there? We’ll probably stay the night, our parents won’t let us. 

Nah, I’m good. Just need some time for myself. Ryley sighed tiredly. Don’t let your worry about me ruin your time with families. 

Fine, whatever you say. But we’re back in the morning. Ozzy typed back. And go to bed early, you looked like you haven’t slept in a week again. 

Yes, mother. Ryley sighed before going back to cleaning the base. 

It was hours later when he fell face first into the bed he knew that no one will be pleased when they’ll find him completely exhausted in the bed and the shiny and clean base. But Ryley could bother thinking about that any longer as he fell asleep the second his head hit the pillow. He didn’t even bother to pull a blanket over himself and his hair was long enough to tie it back so he didn’t even bother to take off the tie holding his hair back from falling into his eyes. 

The next morning 

The Alterra ship left in the morning with a lot of new information and the promise of staying in contact from the group that still refused to go back to Earth. 

“I swear I’m going to kill him this time.” Ozzy growled as the smell of cleaning supplies hit their faces upon entering the base. “God fucking damnit Robinson!” He yelled into the base. 

“Wait, no one ever told us about his habit of going cleaning like crazy when he’s mad.” Emily looked around. “But damn, he did a really good job at cleaning this place.” 

“He only ever said that he takes cleaning as his job.” Ozzy facepalmed. “I need to kick some sense into him. I’m sure he want to sleep at like 2 AM like the idiot he is.” 

Everyone scoffed and Danby placed his hand on Ozzy’s shoulder. “There, there. Let him live. He had a good reason to be mad.” 

“We’ll take a day off today and finally change from these dive suits.” Bart stretched. “Don’t worry, Ozzy. We’ll wake him up if it’s necessary.” Everyone walked back into their rooms and as expected, Avery and Bart found Ryley outstretched on the bed. 

They changed quickly before sitting on the bed, each on one of Ryley’s side, Ripley lying down on the soft blanket she liked to sleep on next to their bed. 

Bart gently shook Ryley’s shoulder. “Good morning, you cleaning madman.” They giggled when a loud groan came from the smaller body. 

“I’m surprised you didn’t suffocate with your face buried in the pillow like this.” Avery laughed and Ryley turned his head for the first time since hell asleep and looked at Avery with one eye. 

“And who’s the one, who’s hard to wake up, now?” Bart smiled as Ryley shifted into a more comfortable position with a sigh. He lied down behind Ryley and took off the hair tie when he noticed it pulling his dark brown hair back. 

Avery laying down too, having to gently move Ryley’s arms not to squish them under his own body and ruffled his hair. “You did a really good job with cleaning the base.” Avery praised Ryley with a soft kiss on his forehead, receiving a low hum in answer. 

Ryley tucked his hand under his chest and closing his eyes again, letting both Avery and Bart wrap themselves around his smaller body before falling asleep again. 

“How’s our sleeping beauty doing?” Jochi whispered to the quiet room shared by the three guys. Both Bart and Avery looked at him with smile. They have been laying there for almost an hour, talking quietly not to wake Ryley up. 

“Only woke him up to make sure he was still breathing since he had his face pressed into the pillows.” Avery chuckled quietly as Jochi walked over to the bed to look at the two acting like two giant pillows for the small male in between them, who was still sound asleep. 

“Yeah, just from looking at him he seems better than last time.” Jochi smiled as he saw Ryley shift closer to both Avery and Bart at the same time. “Wow, I never thought it’s such a benefit to have two boyfriends towering over you.” He smirked. 

“I guess so.” Bart snorted. 

“Glad you gave it a shot, huh?” Jochi’s gaze directed to Bart. 

“Oh, the memories of you being all ‘I don’t want to be in a relationship’ and look at you now. Two amazing boyfriends, along with great and big family.” Avery said in a teasing tone as he looked at Bart. 

Bart just rolled his eyes. “That was a long time ago.” 

“You were in a denial.” Ryley mumbled and smirked as all of them jerked at his sudden awakening. “Just admit it, finally.” Ryley turned so he laid on his back, looking at Bart. 

“Fine. You’ll get your way this time.” Bart sighed, receiving a smile of victory from Ryley. 

Jochi chuckled. “We woke you up, didn’t we?” 

“Nah, it’s okay. I had to wake up sometime.” Ryley yawned. “I bet that Ozzy wants to kick my ass.” 

“Yeah, he does.” Avery laughed. “But what do you know? Maybe Danby calmed him down?” 

“If you say this, then you don’t know how Osvald Garrison tolerates this behavior of mine.” Ryley scoffed. 

“And damn you do.” Ozzy said from the doorway. “I’m gonna kick some sense into the stupid head of yours.” 

“First of all, the base is clean at least and second, our bedroom is some sort of meeting room from now on or what?” Ryley sat up finally, his spine letting out few pops as he stretched. 

“Ow, don’t do that. That wasn’t a pleasant sound at all, and the fact that it’s coming from your spine doesn’t make it any better.” Avery whined. 

“And it pops for a reason! God knows when you went to bed.” Ozzy crossed his arms over his chest. 

“I don’t know. Probably around two in the morning?” Ryley scratched the back of his head, ignoring the death glare from the redhead. 

“Ugh, whatever. Just get out of bed and come have a breakfast at least. I highly doubt you had dinner last night.” Ozzy said and left. 

Ryley smiled sadly as the vents from the previous day played in his mind. 

“Hey, no need to worry about it, Ryley. We’ll be always there for you. Especially Bart, Avery and Ozzy.” Jochi gave him a soft smile before he also left the room. 

“Aww, come on. Don’t you get all emotional on us.” Bart giggled as he embraced Ryley as his eyes teared up. 

“I know, I just can’t help it.” Ryley wiped his eyes. “You guys are the family I never had.” 

“Shush, you.” Avery took his small hand. “It’s just what you needed the most and we had to provide it to someone like you.” They both kissed his cheeks. “But now get up, gotta get some caffeine back into you. Nobody wants a zombie walking around.” Avery stood up, watching Bart doing the same while dragging Ryley with him. 

“Ugh, fine.” Ryley groaned, but the smile never leaving his face for a single second for the rest of the day.


End file.
